A virtual environment for the assessment and the rehabilitation of the visuo-constructional ability in dementia patients

Tarnanas, Ioannis (2000). A virtual environment for the assessment and the rehabilitation of the visuo-constructional ability in dementia patients. Studies in health technology and informatics, 70, pp. 341-343. IOS Press 10.3233/978-1-60750-914-1-341

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This study proposes a VE that offers a reliable diagnosis of the stage of cognitive decline in dementia patients and assists the delay of this decline in terms of the visuo-constructional ability. The proposed VE, in the case of the assessment, presents a visuo-constructional completion task, which requires spatial perception, motor memory and the perception of the target object. In the case of the rehabilitation the VE uses sound as audio-feedback that, with the aid of the music perception, tends to develop an enhancement in the visuo-construction ability of the dementia patients that can be generalized even outside of the VE. The study examined 30 subjects that were normal controls (N), 30 patients suffering from memory disorders (Age-Associated Memory Impairment--AAMI) and 30 suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The results showed that there is a significant correlation between the performance in the visuo-constructional task and the dementia diagnosis. It also seems that the visuo-constructional ability of the (AD) patients can be statistically improved by the audio experience in the VE. The empirical results of this study offer an alternative diagnosis and treatment of dementia patients and could share some light in the brain sub-systems that are responsible for the visuo-constructional ability. Further studies are required in order to investigate the nature of this phenomenon more.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research > ARTORG Center - Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation

UniBE Contributor:

Tarnanas, Ioannis

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0926-9630

Publisher:

IOS Press

Submitter:

Ioannis Tarnanas

Date Deposited:

25 Aug 2014 14:35

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:31

Publisher DOI:

10.3233/978-1-60750-914-1-341

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/47761

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